We used GWG for 3rd and 4th and the kids loved it. I liked the diagramming and it was a good prep for Hake. I'd recommend it.

We used ours with Biblioplan. Biblioplan has Hakim book reading right in their lesson plans. That said-I wasn't really that impressed with Biblioplan and we only used it for a year. It seemed to be a little disjointed to me. May just have been a bad fit. But it might be worth checking out in case it works better for others.

When we did AG I split the lessons into 2 lessons for different days. I found that while my son was very good at grammar, if I had him do one whole lesson a day he would get bored halfway through and start making errors. Splitting it up solved that. The lessons tend IMO to be overly long. I didn't want to skip half the lesson because it seemed wasteful but my choice was between stretching it into two shorter lessons or risk making grammar a tedious chore to a kid who had previously liked it. We split up the lessons. Taking it in smaller increments worked for us.

We didn't like Hake. You might check out Write Shop or Jump-In.

I would keep up on math and Language Arts. Then depending on time, I'd add science and history.

Absolutely! My son has been going to college since 10th grade and I just let him take all his associate degree courses. We're killing two birds with one stone and it is a great thing! He is doing great and I have more free time for the younger ones. We're lucky that we have no limits on how many courses they can take.

We currently use Hake and used AG a couple years ago. AG is good but we found it tedious and dull. Each lesson has a lot of review sentence part labeling and for a student that gets it quickly it is overkill. I've heard good things about it from others but for us it killed our enthusiasm. Hake has spiral review but it isn't monotonous sentence labeling like AG. There is diagramming but not to the extent that it becomes a chore. It was a better fit for us. If you can, I would recommend trying to see samples of both before you commit to any purchase.

Take him to the vet right away. Cats can go down very quickly if they are not eating and drinking and with the inability to stand it sounds like it isn't going to get better on its own. A suffering animal doesn't understand debt or money issues. I understand your reluctance but this is part of owning a pet...the good and the bad (vet bills). I know all about this. Our dog just cost us about $600 for an earache...long story but involved changing vets too.

My whiteboard wall. I have a huge whiteboard and on one side is a Van Gogh painting and on the other is a large pegboard. I also like that we have a picture window in our school room with a couple of comfy chairs. We have a computer set up and the kids like to take a break by pulling up the chairs to the computer and watching a Unitedstreaming video. It is all very cozy. Over the computer I have another pegboard where I post the weekly assignments and any other weekly planning info we'll need.

I have had both Cosmeo and US but I would go with Unitedstreaming hands down. You do not get all the resource materials with Cosmeo and I even found that the videos are limited. US is a little more but you'll get everything. You can get a good discount at www.homeschoolbuyerscoop.com and you don't have to be a member to use their discount services.

We use Hake and it has diagramming. I looked for a curriculum that specifically had it because I find that it provides a logical look at how the sentence is constructed rather than just memorizing definitions and vague placement. We use a whiteboard and turn it into a game. I am teaching my two girls diagramming now so we have our Hake sentences and they do their own diagram and we compare and correct if needed. They enjoy it this way.

We only use it as a supplement. We do Abeka 4 days a week and LOF on Friday.

I 2nd Life of Fred but also recommend Teaching Textbooks.

To name a few... First Whole Book of Diagrams by Daly A History of US by Hakim Teaching Textbooks Runkle Geography Western Civilization by Spielvogel Classical Writing Logos Imitations in Writing Analogies I, II, III by EPS

We do lapbooking. We're doing lit lapbooks for the local library teen reading discussion group books right now. We did one for Prince Caspian when the children read the book and before they saw the movie. Lapbooks can be very flexible and as intricate or simple as you want them to be. :)

We're using Hake but only for the grammar. We love it! It has diagramming which I was hoping for and uses a spiral approach. We're using Jump-In for writing.

We were Saxon users until 54 but it didn't work for us and we switched to Abeka at that point and it was a great fit for us. Abeka uses the worksheet approach and they are colorful. Abeka also uses the spriral approach that I liked about Saxon and moves at an accelerated pace which keeps the children challenged and doing well on yearly testing. We are more into secular and found that there was minimal religious content in the Abeka math.

I have two homeschool bumper stickers: "Blessed are those that school at home, for they will never have to eat cafeteria food." "My honor student is taught at home." and a swim team decal.

What about a unit on the Presidential Election process? We're doing one right now and knowledge box has a great lapbook and gallopade has a nice workbook on Presidential Elections. There are also some good books on this for children too. It could be blended into a unit on the 4th of July too.:001_smile:

I started pretty early with mine (3rd) but honestly I think that it would have been better starting at 4th or 5th. Depends of course on the child.

I've been doing this for years...pretty much from day one. All the children have a weekly chart with the assignments for each day. It is the best thing for keeping us on track and sane. The children all know that they must have the assignments done daily. There is no waiting till the end of the week. When they finish their daily assignments, they are free to play. The 'play' or free time is a great incentive to encourage timeliness. I don't have assigned times for each topic. We work on together stuff first and then they do their own work on their own. There are times when life happens and occasionally things need to be moved to the next day but as you get better at scheduling, you learn what to anticipate and how to distribute the load best for your family. Hope this helps!:001_smile:

This sounds like a group I'd really hate. I won't belong to any homeschool groups that are that intrusive into our homelife. I wouldn't make my dh go to the mens meetings and if I found that I was angry or stressed out, I'd find another group or go it alone for awhile.

I use LOF as a supplement. We use Abeka as our main program but LOF gives the children a break and they think it is a lot of fun.

Oh man...I'd be soooo furious too! Post and let us know that he got home ok though. I agree with the others too...time he start looking for an apt and gets the feel of rent, utilities etc. Nothing like a little debt to make a young adult appreciate their parents more. ;)

I'm so sorry that this is happening to your daughter. Other than just doing things to bolster her confidence and letting her know that what these people are doing is not her fault, I don't think you have many other alternatives. She can't change the behavior of the others but she can control how she allows it to make her feel. The less she appears bothered or intimidated by the treatment the less of a target she will be. Go through some play-acting senarios with her and work on some ways that she can learn to show these mean kids that she is not affected by them. For example-when the boy at the pool taunts her-she needs to stop-look him right in the face-laugh at him and move on. When she stops giving the kids the expected reaction (sadness, anxiety, fear) they will eventually leave her alone and move on. (((Hugs)))